Dr Burtless says a myth has grown that older workers are less productive. "The expectation that older workers will reduce average productivity may be fuelled by the perception that the aged are less healthy, less educated, less up-to-date in their knowledge, and more fragile than the young. While all these images of the elderly are accurate to some degree, they do not necessarily describe the people who choose to remain employed at older ages."

So will having older people in the workforce reduce productivity?

"At least so far, the answer is an emphatic `No'. Improved education among the population past 60 and delays in retirement among better educated Americans have tended to boost the earnings of older workers compared with younger ones."

While it's hard to compare across countries, the same is likely to be true here.

In Australia, about a quarter of the population is aged 55 years and over. As the baby boomers age, you can bet this is only getting larger.

Things have changed since the days when workers hung up their hats on their 55th birthday. But change is slow.

Official figures show the participation rate among Australians aged 55-plus has increased dramatically over the past three decades, from a quarter of older people working to a third.

The shift to more part-time work and flexible work initially led to a decline in working older men. But this has changed as more men have taken up part-time work in transition to retirement.

Older women have certainly taken the chance to work part time at an older age. In the 1980s, only one in 10 women over 55 worked. Today it's nearly three in 10.

There are several reasons why older Australians are working longer, including higher levels of education and increased need to keep earning thanks to the destruction of wealth in the financial crisis.

Government policies have helped by increasing the retirement age and introducing a Work Bonus, which treats earned income more generously under the age pension eligibility test.

BUT, as Intergenerational Reports have identified, significant barriers remain to older people participating in the workforce, including attitudes of employers, a lack of flexible working and a need for greater retraining and support services. Australians are under-utilising the skills of our older people. We need to do more.

In 2008, 57 per cent of Australians aged 55 to 64 were still employed. This puts us only about the middle of the pack among developed countries for participation by older workers.

In Iceland, 83 per cent of people in their mid-50s to mid-60s were still employed.

Across the Tasman, the figure is 72 per cent. Japan beats us too at 66 per cent, as does the US at 62 per cent.

These other countries have done a range of things to encourage older workers, including introducing anti-discrimination legislation, employer subsidies and awareness campaigns on the benefits of employing older workers.

We could be doing a lot more with our older workers.

Work provides the opportunity for young and old people to come together to learn from one another.

Young people bring a fresh perspective. But older workers bring an invaluable bank of institutional knowledge and know-how.

It's time for a mindset change among employers to value the contribution and institutional wisdom of older people. Australia is sitting on a vast untapped resource in its older people.

Surveys of so-called "discouraged" older job seekers - those who want to work, are available, but are not looking for it - have found that fully two-thirds feel employers consider them too old to work.

Three-quarters of these said the ability to work part time would help keep them in the workforce longer. About two-thirds said knowing they would only have to work particular set of hours would incentivise them to work. Something as simple as being able to sit down some of the time and take breaks were also a factor.

Australia is sitting on a vast untapped resource in its older people.

It's time we stop seeing older people as the problem, but rather the solution to the pressures created by an ageing population.

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